


Cash or Check

by Prentice



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: 1920s slang, Alternate Universe - Canon, Always Female Percival Graves, Awkward Kissing, Crushes, F/F, F/M, Female!Percival Graves - Freeform, Genderswap, Not Beta Read, Persephone Graves, Pre-Movie 1: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Romance, Smitten Original Percival Graves, Tina has a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 19:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20606300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prentice/pseuds/Prentice
Summary: Persephone Graves should have seen the kiss coming.





	Cash or Check

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear from the tags: Persephone Graves is my female version of Percival Graves. 
> 
> Originally written because I saw [this pin](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/401664860502603063/) on pinterest and couldn't get the thought out of my head. 
> 
> Also, as always, check the tags and/or individual warnings because I'm not your mother, bff, or therapist and your reading habits are _your_ responsibility so be informed and empowered and have fun! :)

Honestly, Persephone wasn’t entirely sure why the kiss took her by surprise. In hindsight, she probably should’ve expected it. Goldstein had never been very good at hiding her feelings and it had only gotten worse in recent weeks.

Ever since the incident with the Second Salemer’s boy, in fact. Possibly even before that. After all, Goldstein had always been – well…

It was no secret that from the moment she’d approved the younger woman’s application into her department there’d been something a bit more – _complicated_ – at work than purely professional regard when it came to Goldstein’s feelings for her. It had even become something of a running joke amongst her subordinates; teasing comments and playful ribbing being tossed Goldstein’s way every time they thought Persephone was out of earshot. Not that she’d ever paid it any mind.

For all their lighthearted joking and schoolyard gossiping, Goldstein had never seemed anything more than mildly embarrassed or flustered by it all, and Persephone knew from experience that none of them meant any real harm by it. If they had, she wouldn’t have hesitated to step in and shut it down. Not just for Goldstein’s benefit either, though she was sure that _that_ would’ve only given more grist for the gossip mill to chew on, not to mention make bets on.

(Honestly, why any of her department thought she _didn’t_ know about the illicit betting pool they had going was beyond her, especially since she’d made a tidy sum last year by way of betting that Abernathy wouldn’t manage to find his balls in time to finally ask Goldstein’s sister to MACUSA’s annual Liberty Ball. Not that that had surprised her. Abernathy had been trying to work up the courage to ask Queenie out since both the Goldstein sisters had started working there…four years ago.)

No, frankly put, if she would’ve had to step in, it would’ve been for everyone’s benefit, not just Goldstein’s.

After all, as Director of Magical Security and acting Head of MACUSA’s Magical Law Enforcement division, Persephone had never really held to the the old ways of thinking; believing that her Aurors should be hardened to the point of near cruelty, even if it meant overlooking some of the less than savory actions those in her department took in order to do their jobs.

No, that wouldn’t have done for her or her department.

Not at all.

Instead, she’d taken the seemingly unheard of approach of forcing the men and women in her department to be – of all things – respectable – and competent – and, where they could be, compassionate.

The latter of which, she knew, was not always easy, especially in their line of work, where they came face-to-face with the atrocities of both Wizard and No-Maj kind on a daily basis.

Even so, and as Persephone often reminded them, dark wizards and witches rarely cared about compassion, which was why it was so damn important that _they_ did.

“We have to do better,” she’d often find herself telling them, dark eyes sweeping over old and new faces alike. “We have to _be_ better. If we aren’t, how are we any different than they are?”

It was a question she frequently asked them.

Not just as a reminder, but also as an honest inquiry.

She _wanted_ her Aurors to think about it, after all. Wanted them to ask themselves that every time they did the job so that when the time came, they would have it in them to make the better choice. The _right_ choice.

Fortunately – and in spite of the initial uphill battle she’d been forced to wage against some of the old crowd who still believed the old ways were the best ways and that they didn’t need to be changed, especially by some “jumped up little witch” who they, rather foolishly, assumed had only gotten her position by riding the coattails of her family name (a misconception she’d been all too happy to put an end to) – she’d been fairly successful in turning things around and making her department everything it should’ve been all along.

Which was to say: a well-respected law enforcement division that was a force to be reckoned with.

This was one of the many reasons why she’d let all the joking and teasing comments slide. It was all just a way for them to blow off steam and wind each other up, as well as a fairly harmless morale and team-building exercise in action as far as she was concerned. It didn’t mean anything. Not really.

As long as it stayed good-natured and Goldstein continued to give as good as she got, Persephone didn’t see a reason to interfere.

Not to mention, and to be perfectly frank, it wasn’t as though she was unaware of Tina’s little – _infatuation_ – with her. It was obvious. Sometimes painfully so, much to the entertainment of their colleagues, and she was more than willing to ignore it to spare them both a hell of a lot of awkwardness in the office.

Even so, knowing about Tina’s crush on her was one thing, but being prepared for the witch to actually _act_ on it was entirely another. Though, to be fair, ‘act’ was perhaps too strong a word for it since that would assume the younger woman had put any real thought into it and had not simply lost her _damn mind_. A distinct possibility in their line of work, but somehow Persephone doubted that was the case.

Especially with how utterly mortified Goldstein was beginning to look, her face flushing into something splotchy and pale; her eyes as wide as a Mooncalf’s at dinnertime.

Fighting back a sigh, Persephone barely resisted the urge to look around the office, already knowing that there was at least a good dozen or so eyes on them. There would have to be, especially at this time of day, when shift changes were inevitable and many of her staff were either finishing up reports, getting ready to go home or preparing to go out on the doubled secrecy patrols she’d recently ordered. Not to mention the handful of support staff that were usually on hand, sorting through confiscated contraband and other detritus that usually ended up piling up at the end of every shift.

More than that, though, most of them were Aurors. Fully trained and observant. She should know. She’d trained most of them, for Mercy Lewis’s sake!

“Goldstein,” she started, only to hesitate, lips pursing. The poor girl looked close to tears; expression stricken as though she expected – god only knew. Probably to be fired or, at the very least, thoroughly dressed down in front of the entire department.

Not that Persephone would do so.

Unprofessionalism aside, she wasn’t heartless. No matter what most of her staff and a good chunk of MACUSA believed. In fact, if anything, she would say it was the opposite, at least where Goldstein was concerned.

There had always been something about the girl that made Persephone want to…well. It wasn’t favoritism, exactly; she didn’t play those sorts of games in her department. Rather, it was something else, something more. Something that, for the sake of her own sanity, she rarely thought about during working hours – or after working hours, for that matter. 

Not that that spared her from a stray thought or two every now and again. Mostly when she was at home, away from her office and with little chance of accidentally being mentally overheard by Goldstein’s sister. Not that Persephone ever left her thought so unguarded – she practiced Occlumency as a matter of course; Picquerism and the entirety of MACUSA trusting her to keep State Secrets just that: secret – but on the rare occasion, when thoughts of work momentarily bled away and she was able to simply be Persephone Graves, witch, and not Director Graves, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, she…

Well, she sometimes thought of Goldstein.

Porpentina.

She thought of her.

Not necessarily in any sort of compromising position – that way led to madness and harassment allegations, after all – but just…about her.

About her eyes, her hair.

The way she sometimes unconsciously bit her bottom lip when she was thinking of something she felt was important. The way she moved, unguarded and unaware, when she felt she was onto something: sure and confident for once, instead of fidgety and hesitant, like she was afraid of offending someone just by being in the same room. Even the way she laughed, voice carrying over all the others even though she always tried to stifle it.

Or the look she got in her eyes when she was assigned a new case, girlish excitement mixed with surprisingly steely determination, her tone earnest as she promised she wouldn’t ‘let the boss down’.

The way…

The way she smiled, sometimes, at Persephone.

Her teeth biting gently at her bottom lip, all shy sweetness as a blush started to dust her cheeks, making her look soft and warm and inviting and so damnably _touchable_ that it made something inside Persephone ache, just a little, if she thought about it for too long.

Not that she ever did. It was far too inappropriate, far too unprofessional. Even in the confines of her own mind, where there were more secrets and secret desires than there weren’t. She, more than anyone in her department, had to be beyond reproach.

Even so, it wasn’t easy. The not thinking about it. The not – _fantasizing_ – about it.

Especially with how eager Goldstein – Porpentina – was to please. How eager she was to prove herself. It was one of the first things Persephone had noticed about the other woman. How eager she was to please – not everyone – but just those she felt deserved it, and when it came to Persephone…

She was always trying to please her.

In big ways.

In little ways.

In any way, she possibly could.

And it was…

Well, Persephone wasn’t made of stone. It didn’t take much imagination to envisage how it could be between them. How, if given half a chance, Tina would probably _melt_ under Persephone’s focused attention and be the companion – the lover – that Persephone had always dreamed of when she allowed herself the luxury.

Which was, admittedly, not very often.

Especially these days, when the world was once again at the brink of war. And it would be war, Persephone knew. It would have to be: Gellert Grindelwald wasn’t the type of wizard to go down easy or without a fight; neither were his followers, and she held no delusions that Grindelwald’s influence hadn’t already reached their shores.

In fact, she was sure of it.

She just had to _prove_ it.

Which wasn’t exactly proving itself to be a cakewalk, especially with Seraphina’s continued reluctance to give her department the much-needed budget increase she’d been asking for without some sort of irrefutable proof of Grindelwald’s presence in the country.

That Persephone had suffered a few sleepless nights because of it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone that knew her. That she’d allowed herself a few quiet moments in those sleepless nights to indulge in some private thoughts about one of her subordinates…

That would’ve come as a shock.

One that honestly didn’t bear thinking about.

Not right now anyway.

Not while she could still feel the warmth of the other woman’s lips against hers; mouth tingling with how good it felt to be touched, albeit briefly, by the very person she’d spent her nights thinking about.

Clearing her throat, Persephone straightened, tongue unconsciously flicking out to wet her bottom lip. It tasted vaguely of mustard; the damnable hot dogs Goldstein always insisted on eating lingering on her tongue and making her wonder – so briefly it might well have not been a thought at all – what it would be like to feed Goldstein actual decent, perhaps even decadent, food and not the swill they sold on street corners. Not that she should be thinking that.

“Get back to work,” she barked eventually, the no-nonsense tone she used at the office making a few of her Aurors jump because it wasn’t just Tina she was talking to, clearly; it was her whole damn department. All of whom were the worst gossips in the entirety of MACUSA. Because _of cours_e they were.

Head bobbing nervously, Goldstein nodded, eyes a bit frantic as she opened her mouth once, twice, three times before nodding again and turning sharply, shoulders still tucked far too close to her ears to be anything other than mortified and…

Persephone didn’t bother to fight the sigh this time, because, really, she knew she was going to regret this. Knew it down to the very depths of her soul, but still… she couldn’t allow Goldstein – Tina – to think she was going to lose her job. Not over something so…_well_.

Not over that, anyway.

“And Goldstein,” she called before the girl could get too far away, voice carefully bland as she watched her freeze and, if possible, hunch further in on herself before forcing herself to straighten and not-quite turn, gaze pointedly not meeting her own as she asked tentatively, “ma’am…?”

“The bank’s closed during working hours,” Persephone informed her firmly, the No-Maj slang rolling over her tongue surprisingly effortlessly despite how rarely she used it. “But I’m willing to take a check if you’re interested.”

Eyes shooting up from where they were studying the floor, Goldstein gaped at her. Whether for the slang or the offer, Persephone didn’t know. Regardless, it was out there and there was no taking it back. Especially since she was sure every damn Auror in the entire goddamn building was hanging on their every word now.

“M-ma’am…?” Goldstein stuttered, clearly floundering. “Y-you really…?”

Eyebrow raising, Persephone waited.

“I mean!” Flailing a bit, Goldstein blushed. “Uh...no, ma’am…I mean, yes, ma’am! I mean – I’d – um, I’d love a check.” Blush darkening, Tina continued hesitantly, hopefully, “if – um, if you’re willing to cash it, m-ma’am?”

Eyes pointedly sweeping the room full of Aurors, all of whom were seemingly too busy holding their collective breaths waiting for her answer to actually do any work, Persephone slowly turned back to her office and called over her shoulder the only answer she could, under the circumstances: “ask me again at quitting time, Goldstein, and maybe you’ll get your answer.”

Persephone didn’t even manage to get her door fully closed before she heard the teasing start.

**Author's Note:**

> From what I was able to find, Fantastic Beasts was supposed to be set in 1926, New York. Because of that, I've chosen to throw in some of my favorite 1920s (no-maj) slang:  
__**The banks closed during work**: No kisses/kissing during work.  
**I'm willing to take a check (usually used as "cash or check" (i.e. now or later)**: I'm willing to kiss you later.
> 
> _As always, apologies for any lingering tense or grammar issues._


End file.
